The message subject is one of the most important parts of the email, since from it greatly depends your subscribers decide to open and read your emails. The message subject has to be short, direct and powerful, but how to create a good message subject?
You can get it using a simple formula: R + O + T
R + O + T means results + objections + time. Resulting in:
- R: Final result your customers / subscribers want to achieve (results)
- O: Manage the possible drawbacks affecting its decision (objections)
- T: Time period (time frame)
Here's an example:
Suppose we want to do email marketing for a real estate agency and want to send an email to capture potential customers, how we will search the most appropiate message subject? Completing the three formula's operands:
Objective sought from our potential customers: Buy the house of your dreams
Drawback: The price is high
Period of time: As soon as possible
Once you have iidentified the result, drawbacks and period of time can be used to create the message subject 1, 2 or more operands of the formula: R, RO, RT or RW, being this last combination the one that usually best results offers:
R: Buy the house of your dreams
R-O: The house of your dreams at the best price
R-T: Get now the house of your dreams
R-O-T: The house of your dreams at the best price, just today!
With this formula your message subjects will focus on the customer, their needs and concerns and you'll get better results than focusing solely on your products or services..
And remember that the order of the factors does not alter the result, try to combine the operands R, O, T in different ways until get the message subject that best suits the content of your email and sending target.
Finally, some tips that will help you create the best message subject:
- Write between 20 and 25 different subjects for your message using this formula. Read them carefully and choose the one that best summarizes the purpose and content of your email.
- Create a clear and concise subject. Do not create false expectations or hide the real nature of your message.
- The best subjects are those that capture the recipient's attention, create expectations and raise their curiosity.
- Talk to the individual and not to the masses. Write as if you communicate to a specific person. "Exclusive news for you" for example, is better than "Our latest news" or "Monthly news"
- Proximity and customization are your best weapons. Use a familiar language and customize the most of your posts taking into account the tastes and interests of each subscriber
- Short titles. The ideal length of a subject is between 10 and 50 characters (maximum of 30 in the case of mobile phones)
